The new Fog City comes into focus

Today’s Inside Scoop column muses over the almost-patriotic place of Fog City Diner in San Francisco lore, and the restaurant’s reincarnation this fall as Fog City.

Fog City Diner closed back in March, and since then, the triangular restaurant on the corner of Battery and Embarcadero has been completely gutted and rebuilt. The iconic and whimsy neon sign is gone, as are the shiny metal accents and red leather booths. However, the new blue sign letters are up, and as you can see from the renderings, the exterior will have a completely different look as well.

Inside, designer Michael Guthrie has knocked down walls and created one sprawling 165-seat dining room and bar area. One component that did get carried over from the otherwise-eradicated Fog City Diner days is the bar top. Partner Bill Higgins was inspired by the bar scene in “The Shining” when he conjured up the underlit bar at Fog City Diner; this time around, he kept it, though he updated the materials.

Bruce Hill — now aboard as chef-partner — completely reconfigured the kitchen. It’s now oriented north-south, as opposed to east-west; upon entrance, diners will be greeted by a giant, custom-made wood-fired grill with two different grilling platforms for slow and hot cooking. Hill will be joined in the kitchen by some of his Bix cohorts, former Bix chef Erik Lowe (who left earlier this year) and current Bix pastry chef Aaron Toensing (who will do double duty).

The pastry program in particular is worth note. They are bringing in a Wisconsin-made Stoelting custard machine, which they’ve been playing with at Picco lately.

“This ice cream is so silky,” says Hill. “Frozen custard is the ice cream with the least amount of air in it, made with a special machine that is a continuous flow freezer that freezes the ice cream in two minutes.”

“The custard can only hold for a couple of hours, which means we’ll be making it fresh throughout the day. Fresh ice cream is silky and incredible, and the method shows off the beauty of our local dairy products,” says Hill.

They’re hoping to open next month. Here’s one more rendering of the facade: